Search Engine Optimisation vs Search Ads

Many people are curious how they can get their website to show in Google because they realise how important it is to be found by searchers.

Very simply, there are two basic methods you can use. The first and quickest method is search advertising like Google AdWords, also referred to as SEM or Search Engine Marketing. The second method is using SEO Auckland or Search Engine Optimisation which can be more time consuming and unpredictable in its results.

With search advertising, you’re charged on a cost per click basis so you only pay for traffic that clicks on your ad and visits your website. You’re in control of how much you spend by setting how much you’re willing to pay for each click and daily spend limits.

Search Engine Optimisation is a different method which involves online optimisations to improve how a search engine like Google evaluates and ranks your website in its organic search listings.

Very simply, Search Engine Optimisation has two factors that can be optimised, on-page factors and off-page factors. On-page SEO factors are optimisations that can be made to a website to improve its search ranking and are things like page titles and meta descriptions, content and URL structures, and page load speed times. Off-page SEO factors are signals beyond your website that influence its search ranking, things like backlinks and social sharing.

Which one is better, search ads or SEO?

If you have the budget, start with search ads. It’s the fastest way to get your website seen in Google, even if it is a new website. You’ll gain valuable feedback about which keywords are valuable for your business.

Once you know which keywords are worthwhile, you can then implement an SEO strategy to boost your organic rankings for those keywords in Google over time. How quickly you achieve SEO ranking results pretty much depends on what SEO strategy you implement and how competitive those keywords are to go for.

There are plenty of resources online that help get you started with search ads or search engine optimisation. However, if you don’t have the time or inclination to learn these digital marketing methods in great detail, hiring a search or Auckland SEO specialist can be useful to improving your business online.

The first will be to identify what your online business goals are. The next step will be to define a search strategy to help achieve those goals. Following that will be ongoing tactics to implement and finally a KPI measurement framework to track progress.